The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has announced that UK healthcare businesses will be invited to receive free cyber certification and training. As part of London Tech Week, Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said that hundreds of businesses would benefit from the scheme, which is funded by a £500,000 government grant. Training will include updating all devices, installing firewalls and managing user access. Warman added: “I urge all organisations to sign up to the government’s Cyber Essentials programme which contains a number of simple steps firms can take to get the fundamentals of good cybersecurity in place.”
A new report has revealed predictions for the growth of global password policy enforcement software. The Global Password Policy Enforcement Market report states that we will see significant growth in this field by the year 2026. In particular, the study focused on production, consumption, manufacturing and sales. It also analyses crucial market dynamics including drivers, restraints, trends and opportunities. The full report is available online now.
The NHS Greater Manchester Shared Services has received the international information security standard ISO 27001. This is one of the first NHS organisations to receive such a prestigious information security standard, demonstrating their dedication to protecting customer and patient information from a wide range of cyber threats. IT Security Manager Phil Scott said: “There have been a number of major data breaches in the healthcare industry, which highlighted the vulnerability of the NHS to cyber-attacks. We wanted to reassure our customers that we are committed to keeping data safe and leading the way in cybersecurity, so ISO 27001 certification was the clear choice.”
A new report by the Wall Street Journal has revealed that children’s video game accounts such as Steam are being targeted by hackers. These cyber attackers are seemingly able to spend money on accounts which have no cash pre-loaded onto them. Parents are advised to read the terms of services to check up on individual security policies, as well as checking Wi-Fi security and never playing on a public internet connection.
Abertay University in Scotland has been given the sign off to offer a postgraduate course in ethical hacking. The National Cyber Security Centre has approved the MSc Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity course, helping students to combat hackers, and understand digital forensics and malware analysis. The programme will evolve in line with changing cybersecurity needs.
A new age of hacking is upon on us, this time focusing on digitally crafted propaganda. With sites such as TikTok offering worldwide influence, AI-powered bots could be taking over to spread harmful or even political messages. Experts are concerned about social conditioning, referencing cases such as the Chinese Communist Party’s influence on Chinese social media platform TikTok. They also warn that foreign presidential campaigns could be “destabilised”.
